His Lieutenant
by ari2266
Summary: Yachiru Kusajishi - how does she deal with the loss of her beloved Ken-Chan... but is he REALLY dead? And Kenny - how will he deal with a future with... or without her?
1. Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its Characters - and I am the biggest Kenpachi Fan EVER! :D :D

Kenpachi Zaraki.

A shinigami whose name inspired fear into all those around him. A warrior. A beast. A _Demon_.

Captain of the elite fighting unit, 11th Division. His unbearable spiritual pressure permeated the very walls of the barracks, causing even the most docile of visitors to feel the itch of battle rising in their blood.

And among all this masculine, deadly and uncontrollably deadly aura was a pink haired young woman.

Yachiru Kusajishi had grown up in the years after Aizen's demise. The moment she and her beloved Ken-Chan had entered into the fake Karakura town, and she had witnessed all her friends' dead, and had seen her beautiful, strong Ken-Chan cut down in the midst of his battle with the former captain of 5th division.

She had mourned. She had aged. She had felt bitter anger, and burning resentment for the strange hollowfied shinigami who had killed the person she loved the most. She had lost that light, that inner beauteous light that had always allowed her to see the beauty in all things.

However, she was not unhappy. Her Ken had died in battle, just as he had wanted. What made her angry was that Aizen had cheated – he had altered himself into 2 beings – effectively outweighing the numbers, in her opinion. If Aizen was just one or the other – either Hollow or Shinigami – Yachiru was certain Kenpachi could have beaten him.

3 weeks she stayed with his cold, heavy body. Not wanting to move him, and too proud to bury his glorious war wounds.

And then the angel-girl came.

The angel girl she had always called booby-chan. But now – she was something more. Something alien. Something ethereal. Her smile warmed Yachiru's cold, blood stained hands, and she felt her not-so-innocent soul flower once more under that gentle, motherly gaze. When the pink haired lieutenant spoke, her voice was rusty and level, deeper than she remembered ever hearing it, and broken from the sobs that had racked her body for so long.

"Ken-cha….Captain Zaraki… is dead"

Her eyes filled once more, and she felt angry that she had fallen back to tears so quickly. Orihime knelt down among the rubble, her spotless white gown whispering along the dust and she laid a gentle hand upon the dark clad shoulder.

"Yachiru. Captain Zaraki doesn't want you to cry anymore. He says he doesn't like it."

The lieutenant whipped her head up, her eyes ablaze with anger, "And what do you know what Ken-Chan would have wanted? You didn't know him – not like I did!" Her fists clenched in the torn, bloody haori she sat on.

Orihime smiled further, her eyes alight with a knowledge that belied her years. "I said he doesn't like it. Not he didn't like it." She waited for Yachiru to pick up on the difference. When she saw her eyes widen in questioning hope, she continued, "Yachiru, I need you to move away from him now." Yachiru stuck out her lip, both pouting, and hopeful. Unlatching herself (which took several tries, as her fingers were nearly frozen in place) She stood back and gazed upon the prone form of her beloved Ken-Chan. She saw Orihime come into view and stand over her captain, her hands held out in front of her, palms down.

"Soten kishun… I reject"

The words wafted on the slow breeze as light bloomed above Kenpachi. Yachiru waited, breath held, eyes motionless as she watched the wound that had killed him, the near decapitating shot, slowly knit together, going faster with each passing moment.

Once the wounds were healed, Yachiru saw the girl frown in concentration, as her light transformed form a yellow tinged gold, into a bright, piercing silver-white. Under that light, cold skin changed to warm, dried blood flowed anew, and that big, barrel chest slowly rose, in-taking air. Stony features softened from the cold, rigge-mortis of death into the hard, rough edged living flesh that she remembered so well.

The wide, dangerous lips parted, and sucked in oxygen, as those intimidating, familiar eye slowly came into view. A low growl was emitted as the first breath was exhaled. The eyes slowly focused as the blinding light faded, and Orihime backed away slowly, worn.

"…Ken…chan..?" The small voice cracked the air like breaking glass, a more pitiful and heart wrenching sound had never been heard.

The great, dark haired head turned on the ground and stared across the distance at the young woman standing there. His Lieutenant. His companion. His…

"Yachiru"


	2. Changes

The sun caressed the horizon in a slow lazy fashion, fingers flexing across the landscape in an effort to warm up the cold earth. The land exploded into color, birds shrieking in delight at the returning heat. A single shaft of light lanced across the sky, as light often does, running across the land, through the towns, and over the high, white walls that surrounded the fortress known as Seireitei.

The shaft of light followed its course through the first window it came across, and stopped, spotlighting a room, a bed, and sleeping figure. The sunbeam pressed further, urging the sleeping person to wake, and rejoice in the warmth it was bringing – promising light, joy and life.

It received a long, scarred arm and a groan in response. A single eye rolled forward and blinked steadily, and a large, heavily muscled body rolled forward, heaving itself off the middle sleeping pallet and onto the edge, swinging hard, callused feet onto the roughly textured wooden floor. Long, dark chocolate hair swayed forward, masking the owners face like a curtain of fine silk.

Most people were shocked at the fine condition of the 11th Division captains hair when it was not in its usual spiked attendance. In truth, the amount of soap and oil he had to use to get out the wax that held his spikes in place always left his hair beautifully sleek and fine, and his odor resembling more his fourth seat than a captain of his rank and reputation.

Raising a hand to his forehead, and sweeping back his hair in a single motion, the large captain heaved himself to his feet with a slight grunt and headed to the window, only a loose pair of hakama pants covering his lower half, but not entirely concealing his natural reaction for needing to pee so badly first thing in the morning. Opening his sleeping room window (he refused to call it a bedroom) he stepped lightly outside, and went straight to his favorite watering tree.

Though at first he was averse to having something as trivial and meaningless as a garden in his barracks, he found that his own small escape to the land was quite refreshing. He was able to engage his warrior spirit more subtly by knowing that if he damaged his garden, he'd have nowhere private to pee in the morning, or to let Yachiru play the hollow fighting game she loved, without actually killing anyone. Not that he minded killing, but he preferred not to let his ranks diminish any more than they already had – especially at the hands of his own lieutenant.

Finishing his business and tucking himself back in, the large captain straightened and stretched, allowing his muscles to tense, relax and do it all over again. He fully believed that to enjoy a fight to the fullest, you had to be completely ready – this included stretching and warm-ups. He made sure that his entire division enjoyed his 'warm-up' every morning. Heading back inside to retrieve his zanpakuto, the bear of a man glanced over to the door, where his bubble gum pink haired fukutaisho was standing, a million watt grin on her face.

"YAAY! Kenny's awake!" She yelled, in her best 'everybody get the hell up, the captain is up!' voice to wake up the barracks. He heard a couple of thumps echo throughout the building as what he assumed were a few dozen men rolling out of bed and heading straight to the training ground. He grunted at his young helper, and strode right past her to towards the front of the barracks, ignoring that as he passed she took a flying leap and landed on his back, hanging off him like a small pink monkey.

But the thing was, Yachiru wasn't that small, not anymore. Sure, she was still tiny compared to him, but in those weeks where he had been dead, and recovering, she had grown – in both mind and stature. Of course, her energy was still that of a five year old does up on sugar with a years supply of coffee at her disposal, but there was now a subtle warning, a hidden glance beneath those bright, rose quartz eyes. The look of someone who has seen pain, and recovered. And something else – something… more.

Striding out into the morning glare, the mammoth man surveyed the motley crew arrayed in front of him. Ikkaku had certainly been desperate for recruits after the Aizen incident – He sincerely hoped the drought for fresh meat wouldn't continue. If squad 11 couldn't maintain a strong front, the other squads would have to start looking at security a little bit more. After all, Squad 11 was the strongest fighting force in Soul Society – if they couldn't get new recruits in, he wondered how the other squads, such as 5 and 9 were handling things, with the suspicion of treachery hanging over them.

Either way, it was time to test these newbies.

Shrugging his shoulders and stretching his neck from side to side, Kenpachi Zaraki faced his quivering opponents, each of them with spirit energy so low they were having trouble merely standing in his presence. He took a step forward – one of them collapsed. Another step. There goes two more. He sneered in anger – how could he fight these pathetic excuses for warriors? They were only just past learning how to wipe their own noses! Turning his head to speak to his lieutenant, he called out, "Yachiru! You wanna play with these newbies?"

The small girl, who was trapped in the body of a now almost fully developed young woman smiled impishly at her reason for living. "Can I Kenny? Really?" Her voice was tight with restrained eagerness. She was practically bouncing in excitement.

"Shure, Kid – go for it." He watched in wistful glee as the recruits gulped visibly and prepared themselves for the legendary Pink Lightning, as she was now being called. He loved seeing her happy face as she hopped from one opponent to another, quickly dispatching them with swift kicks and punches – she didn't even need to remove her sword. After all, she had been trained by Soi Fon of 2nd division fame for much of her life, and that damn Baka-ya from 6th. She deserved the name, and the happiness that came with it.

And he was happy to make her happy…

"They weren't much fun, Kenny." Yachiru mentioned later that evening, as they lay in his office – he, drinking Sake, and she, drawing on the floor. So much like old times. But things had changed – people had changed.

Orihime, the angel girl, had been able to revive most of the Gotei 13. She had used her powers to bring life back to those who had died during the Aizen Karakura incident. Even those whose bodies had been nearly entirely destroyed – she could bring back. At one point, there was even a vote to allow certain members of the arrancar to be revived. Certainly Neliel was one of those, as were her two faithful sidekicks. Mayuri wanted more of a chance to experiment on Szayel, and Kenpachi himself was eager to have a go at this Grimmjow fella. Oh yeah – that sounded like FUN! And he enjoyed being alive, he realized. Life still held many battle – many warriors for him to face. He was glad he wasn't dead.

But the people who were revived weren't the only ones who changed – those who stayed behind had changed too. His squad had taken the news of his death hard, and they had become an apathetic bunch in his absence. The survivors of Rukogni were even more wary of soul reapers now – and those that were strong were preferring to train out on their own rather then enter the seireitei – that meant less opponents. And Yachiru most of all… she had changed.

Yachiru was still his bright lieutenant – still bubbly and mischievous, still causing trouble and laughing like a child – but she wasn't a child. Not anymore. Kenpachi could see the change in her, no matter how blind he wished to be to such things. He notice how she was taller now, her height closer to that of Unohana's than to a grasshoppers. Her bubblegum pink hair – though still vibrant – had deepened, and lengthened, creating a curtain down her back that she tied low with a single hair tie. Her cheeks had lost the childish rosy glow, and were full and soft. Her great big eyes – eyes that saw too much, and held so many secrets, were now fitted to her face, which had also grown. Her Zanpakuto still had its wheels, she refused to remove them, no matter how much Yumichika begged that they were not fitting for a young woman.

Feh. Young woman.

He had never hoped to hear her called that. It was too weird. And what was worse were the consequences that came with it. The young men. The young men that watched her as she walked, that eyed her frame in desire. He felt nothing but contempt for those guys. He knew better than anyone that she would do whatever the hell she wanted – and she'd never settle for someone as weak as what those bastards were. But still – it irritated him. He didn't like the oggles she got from men – it was like an insult to him. As though they thought her weak enough that they could have a chance with her. It was disgusting.

Stupid weaklings.

She carried her sword at her waist now, too. Gone were the wheels she had always had attached to the scabbard. Gone was that scrap of childhood he wished to remain. He sighed in contempt of his own thoughts, he knew she had to grow up sooner or later. She wasn't an infant after they arrived in Seireitei, and now they had passed through Hueco Mundo and back, she wasn't a child anymore. He sighed in frustration, his mind a million miles away from his room. It wasn't until he saw the bright pink hair and the fuscia eyes enter his vision that he focused back on reality. He blinked once. Twice. Trying to discern her face from his musings.

"You ok Kenny? Watcha thinkin' about? You got a funny look on your face." Her small brows were tented in concern, her open face showing nothing but care for her big captain. Kenpachi Zaraki, the terror of seireitei smiled at his young charge, an unusual reaction from him for anyone but Yachiru. Lifting a platter sized hand, he gently placed it on her head and scruffled her hair affectionately, enjoying her confused squeal of indignance.

"Nothing kid. Just thinking about the future."

Yachiru cocked her head to one side, a querying look in her eyes. She reminded him of a kitten trying to figure out how to attack a particularly colorful piece of string. He chuckled at his own imagination and lay back against the window sill, mind cleared of confusion, calm and ready for the next wave of absurdities in his already absurd life. The last thing he expected was the feel of a small head and arms laying itself to rest gently in his lap. He looked down, single eye widening in increasing surprise. What was she doing? She hadn't lay with him like this since they had first entered the seireitei – back when she still needed that parental comfort of which he was so lacking… but why now? He noted her closed eyes, and the small content smile on her face and she dozed on him.

He frowned, and turned his head to look out the window, then back to check the door. He had to make sure no one saw this and mistook the situation. He didn't give a damn about his own reputation. They could call him anything they bloody wanted. But he'd be damned if they walked in and saw this and spread rumors about HER through seireitei. He'd make sure whoever did that paid dearly… Teeth bared in a silent growl, he lay a single hand upon her back and lay in wait – ready to attack anything that entered his domain. Without realizing, his reitsu spiked, a warning and a message to anyone who thought to disrupt the captain at this time in the evening. He didn't think to realize that being 11:00pm at night, most residents would already be asleep. That didn't matter. All that mattered was the girl in his lap. Her life. Her happiness.

Her future.


End file.
